For the eight seniors on the team, this past Saturday marked the end of their college swimming careers. The St. Lawrence Swim Team hosted their only meet of the season to honor the class of 2021. The captains during the 2020-2021 season were Demi McClung ’21, Emily McCormick ’21 and Terry Li ’21.

McClung has always enjoyed the senior meets throughout her four years on the team and was happy the tradition continued, especially after losing so many experiences due to the pandemic. “We haven’t been able to do everything that a typical senior might have, but our senior meet made everything feel a bit more normal,” she said.

Makenna Burr ’21 was also very happy her class was able to have the meet. “The senior meet was a great way to wrap up the season, with all of the unknowns we faced this year going on,” she said. “Even though it was just our team, it was a great way to honor the seniors and see where our hard work in practice has gotten us.”

Athletes spoke of Coach Bob Clemmer at the meet. “ I think I can speak for all the seniors when I say that the actions put forth by Bob Clemmer to provide us with this ceremony to celebrate four years of working hard in the pool, meant the world to us,” Emma Kroll ’21 said. “Especially with commencement being cancelled, this was seemingly the only senior recognition we are going to get, and I’m glad it was with a coach who has been there for all of us, through thick and thin, for our entire St. Lawrence career.”

While their careers may be over, every senior swimmer will take their time on the team with them for the rest of their life. “I will be able to say that I persevered for 4 years as a varsity college athlete and made lifelong out of my teammates along the way,” Ruby van Zanten ’21 said. 

“Swimming is a tough sport. It takes a lot of willpower to go to practice multiple times a day and jump into cold water just to swim back and forth for two hours.” said Emily Benkert ’21, “But I have made my best friends on this team and have had some of my favorite and best memories, so I wouldn’t have had it any other way during my time at SLU.”

The class of 2021 shared some of their favorite memories from their time on the swim team. Read them below.

“My favorite memory… there are a lot. Training trips are always fun because you come back to school on January 2nd, everyone is wildly out of shape,  and you have exactly one week to get back into shape. The practices are long and very hard, but you’re in Florida so it all evens out. But probably it was the bus ride to and from Bard my junior year. We watched all 5 Twilight movies as a team and in the ending credits of the last movie the song “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri plays. The entire team belted the whole song. It was so late and we were all exhausted from racing and traveling, but we were all best friends: a family.” -Emma Kroll ’21

“My teammates are the best thing to happen to me at SLU. Obviously training together makes you a close group, eating dinners at dana but we also just clicked outside of the pool as well and I know these are the lifelong friends everyone talks about making when you come to college.” -Makenna Burr ’21

“My favorite SLU swim and dive memory is from Fall of 2019, when we drove to Bard for a dual meet and were able to watch all 5 twilight movies on our bus ride there and back, but in all honesty, anytime we were able to all hang out together was a lot of fun.” -Emily Benkert ’21

“I’ve had so many good memories with the St. Lawrence swim team, it’s hard to think of just one good memory! I think that one thing that I miss from pre-covid times is the bus ride to and from our competitions. All packed up into a bus together, we play music and watch movies to get excited and keep energies high. Not only is this a great way to get excited for our competitions, but it’s also a great way to get to know each other. On the way back from our meets, our coaches buy the whole bus pies of pizza and we all get to eat together, talk, and just celebrate the outcome of all of our hard work! One particular meet, we decided as a team that we were going to watch the entire Twilight Saga together. Cramming all 5 movies into the bus ride there and back, as we were making our way back into Canton, I remember as the final movie ended and the credit scene started to roll, the whole bus was singing at the top of their lungs. We definitely were all dehydrated and sleep deprived, but it was such a funny, weirdly unifying experience, that I’ll never forget.” -Demi McClung ’21

“My favorite memory from SLU swim was doing the quadathalon as a team every year! I also enjoyed going to Pompano Beach in Florida for training trip every winter and practicing at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center.” -Ruby van Zanten ’21